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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29041590">Homicidal Pins and Needles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajay_lotte/pseuds/ajay_lotte'>ajay_lotte</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Yellow Car Initiative [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), Fantastic Four, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Punisher (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempt at Humor, Bar Room Brawl, Bar With No Name, Competition, Day At The Beach, Foggy Nelson Is a Good Bro, Gen, Holidays, Matt Murdock &amp; Foggy Nelson Friendship, Matt Murdock is a little shit, Ohio, Road Trips, Villains, ish, yellow car game</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:35:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,822</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29041590</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajay_lotte/pseuds/ajay_lotte</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Brett joins Nelson, Murdock, and Page (and Peter) on holiday, Foggy accidentally takes them to the Bar with No Name, and Matt goes to the beach for the first time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brett Mahoney &amp; Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Brett Mahoney &amp; Matt Murdock, Matt Murdock &amp; Franklin "Foggy" Nelson &amp; Karen Page, Matt Murdock &amp; Peter Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Yellow Car Initiative [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883668</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Homicidal Pins and Needles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hii, finally posting another fanfic- feels like i've been writing this one for wayyy to long<br/>Marvel owns all these characters and stuff, this is just a fanfiction for my own amusement because I suck, I'm bored, and think that Brett Mahoney needs a break<br/>Warnings: an implied flashback, but there's not too much in terms of Matt Murdock angst<br/>Hope you enjoy, Lotte :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Matt shotguns the passenger seat.</p><p>Running on three cups of coffee, he beams, as he’s never quick enough to call dibs on it.  The usual game play involves surrendering the luxurious front seat to either Peter or Karen until everybody hates him enough to sit in the back away from the chaos and mood swings, deeming him Foggy’s problem.</p><p>“Sorry, Matty,” Foggy says as he slides victoriously into the seat.  Matt only then realises that in his excitement to claim the front seat, he had completely missed both Karen’s and Peter’s presence in the back seats.</p><p>“Uh, hi guys?”</p><p>“Hi Matt,” Karen says, “that seat’s reserved for Mahoney.”</p><p>“Mahoney?”  Matt gulps.  As both Matt Murdock and Daredevil, Matt has succeeded in making the previous week hell for the officer.  Not on purpose… but there was an excess of crime which Daredevil helped out with, and as lawyer Matt Murdock, he had a tough job at defending the Defenders.  All of which, Mahoney was involved in.</p><p>“Yeah!”  Foggy exclaims.  “Brett said he needed a holiday after the week he just had, and I said we’re going and offered him a seat.  Now climb in the back.”  Foggy regrets his words.  “Not literally.”  Pouting, Matt gets out the car and into the back.</p><p>“Mr Foggy,” Peter says, “it’s only half six.  You told Detective Mahoney seven.”</p><p>“That I did.”  Foggy says.  “I wanted to address a few things before we join Brett to ensure we don’t have the same chaotic car journey as last time.”  All three groan.  “You’ll thank me.  First thing’s first, Matt and Karen- don’t think I didn’t notice the work you sneaked on the vacation last time.  Hand the files over.”  Neither move, so Foggy glares at them both until Karen breaks and receives a pile of files from the trunk.  “All of them.  And Peter’s schoolwork.”</p><p>“No, Mr. Foggy- I have exams coming up, and…”</p><p>“No; if we can’t work, you can’t either.”  Karen says and passes Foggy the extra documents and books which he puts into the glove compartment of Aunt May’s car.  There’s no break before Fogs moves onto the next point.  “Ok my favourite vigilantes: I want the costumes.”  Karen, already out of her seat, happily obliges, and ditches the suits in Matt’s post box under Foggy’s orders.  When Karen’s back in the car, Foggy starts driving.</p><p>“Matt, you may need to ring someone…”</p><p>“Nope!”  Foggy cuts Karen off.  “No- I will not make the same mistake as last time and let Matt ring a load of vigilantes and/or antiheros and/or X-Men and/or Avengers.  I’ve got this one under control… I asked Claire and she is going to go and put both in Matt’s chest before she heads to work.”</p><p>“You could have asked Frank.”  Matt mutters, and Foggy glares at him.  “He was the only helpful person when I had a bomb in my apartment.”  Matt argues, putting up his hands in surrender.  Doing so, he drops his cane.</p><p>“The next thing I want to address is karaoke.”  Foggy says.</p><p>“No.”  Matt states.</p><p>“I completely agree, Buddy.  As much as I’d love to sing my heart out, it was unfair last time on your super senses when trapped in a small, metal, moving container where the sound bounces and reverberates a lot more.  So, if we put on music, it will just be a little bit, with minimal singing along.”</p><p>Matt narrows his eyes behind his glasses.  Foggy notices.  “I’d like to think you’re worried about that, but this is just to stop me from jumping over again, isn’t it?”</p><p>“It’s both.”  Foggy doesn’t beat around the bush.  “I also bought you a flask of coffee, because I know you hate mornings.”</p><p>“I’ve had three cups.”</p><p>“Do you want it or not?”  Matt takes the flask.  “Ok, so we’ve addressed the keys, the phone calls, anything questionable by Brett, the singing, the coffee, and the work.  I’ve turned my work alarm off on my phone this time.”  The three in the back do the same, them having forgotten this time, and Foggy smiles, proud of himself.  “Nothing can go wrong.”</p><p>Foggy pulls up outside the Mahoney household five minutes early.  Brett’s already ready, and swiftly escapes Bess who is wishing him ‘good-bye’ in the doorway.  “Sometimes I wish I could avoid Aunt May’s kisses that easily.”  Peter says dreamily.  The trio look at him.  “What?”</p><p>“Hey, Brett!”  Foggy winds down the windows.  “Put your bag in the trunk, and then we’re going.”</p><p>“I still don’t know where we’re going.”  Brett says.  That makes four of them.  He puts his bag in the back, surprised to see four already in there.</p><p>“Brett, this is Peter.”  Foggy introduces the mystery member of the gang.  Peter holds out his hand for Brett to shake, and the officer takes it with raised eyebrows before fastening his seatbelt.  “Matt took on a case for Peter and his Aunt a while back and, unfortunately, the kid kind of stuck.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“I’m kidding!”</p><p>“No, Foggy’s right.”  Murdock says from the back, completely serious.  “It’s unfortunate.”  Brett chuckles.</p><p>“So, Peter.  How’s school?”</p><p>“Good thanks.”  Peter says, before deciding he doesn’t want to have this generic conversation with Double D’s favourite cop.  “Mr Foggy, where are we going?”</p><p>“Yeah, Nelson, will I need to arrest you with suspicion of kidnapping?”  Peter suddenly likes Mahoney so much better.</p><p>“It’s not even ‘suspicion’ at this point.”  Matt says, so dramatically, that Karen imagines him rolling his eyes better than Jessica Jones.  And that’s saying something.</p><p>“Matt.  I’m a PI, Brett’s a detective, and your detective work isn’t bad yourself.”  Karen says, which is the understatement of the century.  Last week, Karen was working a case with Jones, and had the honour of seeing the Devil at work.  The way he found clues and used them was just mesmerising.  “I’m sure we can figure this out.”</p><p>“We had to pack swimming suits.”  Peter offers.  “So we’re going somewhere with water.”</p><p>“True.”  Brett says.  “So we could be going somewhere by the sea, or with a pool, or a river or lake of some kind.”</p><p>“Ugh, that’s too many options.”  Peter complains, at the same time as Matt solves the case:</p><p>“It’s the first one.”  Foggy glares at Matt through the mirror.</p><p>Damn it.  It’s starting already.  “Maybe I should just go home.”  Brett sighs.</p><p>“No- Brett.  You’re coming with us.”  It’s still not too late to create a case for kidnapping.</p><p>“I planned on having my holiday Away from two of the three people who make my life difficult- not with them.”  Brett is having his holiday with three of the three people.  Not that any of them are about to tell him that.</p><p>“Come on, Brett.  It’ll be fun!”  Foggy promises, so Brett settles down for a painful couple of days.  Peter puts in his headphones, Karen gets out her book to read, and Matt brings his legs up on the seat to meditate.  Mahoney opens his flask and puts on the radio, and Foggy turns it down quickly so that it’s on a quiet volume.  Surprising Foggy- and Brett, who kind of just knows chaos follows Nelson, Murdock, and Page around- the peace remains that way for nearly two hours.</p><p>The peace isn’t actually disturbed, per say, just Foggy happens to notice Matt flinch in the mirror.  “Matt?”  He asks, the first word uttered in hours causing heads to turn in Matt’s direction.  No response.  “Hey Buddy, I don’t know how long you normally meditate for, but if you don’t stop, you might end up falling asleep.”  There’s no reply, so Foggy shrugs and everybody goes back to their own thoughts, but he keeps glancing at Matt in the mirror.  He flinches a second time, and then a third.  “Matt.”  Foggy states seriously this time.  He flinches.</p><p>“Please forgive me.”  Foggy mumbles and turns the radio up full blast.</p><p>“What the hell?!” Karen looks up from her book in time to see Matt’s hands shoot up to his face.  He claws at his eyes- not his ears, which Foggy’s not sure he understands- and knocks off his glasses.</p><p>“Make it stop!”  Foggy turns it off.</p><p>“You ok Buddy?”  Matt catches his breath and Peter nudges his glasses against his hand.  Matt puts them back on and nods, not saying a word.  Foggy’s not sure whether this is a typical secret keeping scenario, or if it’s a ‘there’s no way I’m doing this in front of Mahoney’ kinda vibe.  Foggy’s going to give Matt the benefit of the doubt and say it’s the latter.  He gives Matt a lingering look which he doesn’t think for a second gets registered and says faux-happily: “Ok- yellow car game?”</p><p>Karen and Peter aren’t afraid to admit they’re cowards- it’s Brett who risks conversation.  “Murdock, you’re still practicing that?”  Brett looks behind in time to see Murdock smirk.</p><p>“Not practicing, officer.”  His voice is a little shaky, but not enough for Foggy to worry too much.  Sceptical, Brett returns to look out the window.</p><p>Matt is happy with the idea of the game, considering Foggy’s excellent timing.  Three cars ahead, at least Matt thinks it’s three… it’s a bit distorted… there is a family playing the game.  So not only can Matt predict everyone else’s car, he can cheat from a couple  miles ahead.  “Yellow car!”</p><p>But Peter still gets the first car.  He doesn’t hide his pleasure in hitting everyone- especially a cop.</p><p>It takes a while to warm up, but soon he’s in the swing of it, beaming when his hits aren’t returned.  “Yellow car!”</p><p>“Well, Murdock, I’m impressed.  How do you do it?”</p><p>“That’s a trade secret, detective.”  Foggy says, and Brett laughs, actually laughs, enjoying the company.</p><p>“I’ll figure it out eventually.”  Foggy’s phone rings, and it couldn’t have been better timing.  “It’s Claire.”  Brett says, causing groans from the rest of the group.</p><p>Karen raises her voice to mock Foggy.  “’I’ve got this under control’, he says.  ‘Nothing can go wrong’, he says.  Typical.”  Matt throws his head back laughing, but Peter’s just as confused as Brett, not having been at the office when Matt disassembled the bomb last holiday.  Matt leans over to take the phone from Brett, who answers it without thinking for the lawyer.</p><p>“No!”  Foggy, Karen, and Peter all yell- but it’s too late.</p><p>“Hey Claire.”</p><p>“Is everything ok there?”  She asks.  “I thought I heard shouting.”</p><p>“Nope, everything is just fine.”  Oh how Foggy hates that tone of voice.</p><p>“Right.”  She elongates the word, giving her time to decide if she needs to question that.  In the end she decides it’s not worth it.   “I’ve been called into work early, so I can’t make it to your flat.  You’ll need to call someone else.”</p><p>“Will do.”  Matt says.  “Thank you, Claire.  Hope work goes well.”</p><p>“Don’t get me started.”  And with a sigh, she hangs up.  Everybody’s watching Matt intently, and he puts Foggy’s phone in the back of Brett’s seat before taking out his own.</p><p>Peter sees the phone and panics.  “Yellow car!”  He calls, intent as distraction, and hits everyone.</p><p>“Matt, hit him back.”  Karen instructs, and everyone returns the unsanctioned hits.  “So, I’m guessing Claire can’t do it.  Who are you going to ring?”</p><p>“Think it through, Buddy.”  Foggy warns.</p><p>“I feel like this is in relation to something I’ve missed.”  Brett comments.  “I should’ve stayed home.  You two being away is break enough.”</p><p>“No, Brett, it’s going to be a nice, fine, relaxing holiday.”  Foggy promises, forcing his eyes to stay on the road and not keep glancing at his partner in the mirror.  “I’m trusting you Matt.”</p><p>Foggy.  Foggy is trusting Matt.  Matt, who keeps secrets, and tells lies, and beats people into hospitals on a regular basis.  Foggy is trusting Matt.</p><p>So Matt thinks it through.  No vigilantes, antiheros, X-Men or Avengers.  That leaves Matt with a couple more categories.  The Fantastic Four are looking high up on his list.  The only problem is, though they all know both Lawyer Matt Murdock and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, they don’t know them to be the same person, and that could be a problem.  They know the apartment belongs to Daredevil, so that’s not a problem, it’s just using the voice in front of Mahoney which is the issue.</p><p>Then he remembers his accomplice and looks at Peter with an evil smirk.</p><p>“No, no, no; D- Matt, please.”  Peter all but begs.</p><p>“Call Sue.”  Peter’s jaw drops as he holds the phone out to Peter, who takes it under the warning glare of Foggy Nelson.  Peter holds his breath, waiting until the Invisible Woman answers.</p><p>“Daredevil, to what do I owe the pleasure?”</p><p>“Hey, Miss Sue.”  Peter says, attempting for cheer.</p><p>“Spider Man.”  Sue says, thinking.  “Last time I checked we’ve only met briefly, is Storm too much to handle?”  Peter glares at Double D, who is seconds away from laughing at his misfortune.</p><p>“No, Miss.”</p><p>“Storm.”  Scientists are all the same, Peter thinks, before remembering he also wants to be a scientist.  If he doesn’t die as result of Dr Octopus or some other crime, and he succeeds professionally, he promises he will not care about terms of address.  “Where’s Daredevil?  Is he alright?”</p><p>“Fine, thanks, but we need a favour.”  Peter scratches his neck.  He’s met the hero once; this is completely out of his job description.  “There’s some suits in the post box, we were wondering if you could collect them?”</p><p>There’re a couple seconds of silence.  Sue’s not dumb.  “This is an identity thing isn’t it.  Vigilantes and their need for secret lives.  I’ll get Johnny on it- we’ve had our keys confiscated since the amnesty, though.”</p><p>“One sec.”  Peter moves the phone away from his ear.  “They don’t have a key.  You promised, umm, you promised Steve to give one back to at least one of the four.”  Peter really hates having to not use the usual terms of address.  He’s blaming Detective Mahoney for everything from this point on.</p><p>“What about the gold key?”</p><p>Brett turns to face Matt.  “You said gold key.”  Matt can’t think of anything better to do than ignore him.  Peter recites the suggestion to Sue.  She laughs, full on laughs, like he’s stupid.</p><p>“Oh, Spider Man… do you have any idea who has that key right now?”</p><p>“No…?”</p><p>“Magneto.”  Matt chokes on air.  “And it’s made of metal.  How do you think anyone is getting that key?”</p><p>“Put it in that funky hat?”  He suggests.  That earns Peter some strange looks from Karen, Foggy, and Brett, but Matt just snorts.</p><p>“That ‘funky hat’ stops mind control- it’s nothing to do with metal.”</p><p>“Can’t you just… take it when he’s not looking?”  There’s a long silence.  A real long pause, and Peter thinks Sue might throttle him if she were here.  But instead she just says:</p><p>“Huh.  That might actually work.”  Peter grins.  “Ok, Johnny will check the post and bring the suits back to the Baxter Building.  If we can steal the key, we’ll return them.”</p><p>“Awesome!  Thanks, Miss.  You’re the best.”</p><p>“See you, kid.”  She says and hangs up the phone.  Peter hands it back to Matt, a victorious grin across his face.  Matt grumbles something under his breath, only decipherable by Foggy, earning a loud laugh from the man.</p><p>“Thank you, Peter.  See how civilised phone calls are possible, Matty?”</p><p>“I have had plenty of civilised phone calls.”  Matt defends himself, but he only gets replies of ‘of course, Matty’, and ‘whatever helps you sleep at night’, and ‘ahahahahahahahaha’ back in return.  Brett however seems confused by this.</p><p>“I’ve had plenty of civilised conversations with you on the phone, Murdock.  And your clients seem impressed as well.  The only chaos is when you forget to hang up.”</p><p>Foggy looks at Matt in the mirror.  “I thought we’d practiced that, buddy.”</p><p>Matt groans.  “It’s easy to forget, Fogs.”  A chaotic argument about phone rituals later, and a headache inducing interrogation Brett led to find out more about the golden key all powered people seem to hunt so much, Foggy forces them to stop for lunch.  He listens to Matt run people around in circles for a living- he doesn’t need to hear that now with Brett.  As an apology, Brett offers to drive the rest of the way.  Foggy says yes, but they still have ten hours left.</p><p>Karen yells “Ohio!”</p><p>Foggy grumbles something about them being the worst people to surprise ever.  His friends look more proud than they do offended.</p><p>They reach the Ohio border when Peter announces that he’s hungry.  Matt tells him to deal with it.  Karen gives them both a Kit-Kat.  Foggy drives for another hour until they reach Medina County, and Brett requests, nicely, if they could stop for a bite to eat.  Foggy drives slower, looking for places to eat, and settles with a nice-looking bar with a long list of specials outside.</p><p>“This place looks nice.”  Foggy says, earning agreement from three out of four passengers.  Matt, we’ve stopped outside a bar, which serves food before you insult my intelligence.  So, here ok guys?”</p><p>Matt wants to say ‘no’.  He desperately wants to say ‘no’.  But he’s been listening to rumbling stomachs for the last two hours.  So, without a word, he gets out and hangs back a little from the others, grabbing Peter by the neck of his sweater when he’s sure nobody’s looking.</p><p>“Double D?”  Peter asks, tripping over his feet.  He falls into step besides Matt.</p><p>“You know where we are, right?”  Matt asks.  Peter doesn’t respond.  “We’re at the Bar with No Name.”  Peter looks between Red and the bar.</p><p>“They relocated to New York.  We’ve stopped plenty of villains there.  Besides, my spider sense would…” Foggy opening the door stops Peter from finishing his sentence.  “Ok, so maybe ‘opened a branch in New York’ would be a better way of putting it.  First to five?”</p><p>“Seven.”  Matt raises him, and Peter looks doubtful before shrugging.</p><p>“You’re on.  Same rules as with Wade?”  Matt nods, and his grin turns into the animalistic one of the Devil.  “He’s gonna be so jealous.”  Peter’s grinning just as much.</p><p>“Matt, Peter!  Come on.  My arm’s aching.”  Foggy yells, and Peter guides Matt to the door.  They five walk into the building, the bar falling into silence as they enter.  Foggy, chipper as ever, doesn’t pay it much attention, and continues talking to Karen like nothing has happened.  Brett tries to share a look with Murdock, trying to see if the lawyer is as suspicious as he is, but Murdock seems occupied in his thoughts.  They take an empty table.</p><p>“Matt and I will get the menus.”  Peter says and disappear into the crowd.  Foggy shares a look with Karen.</p><p>“So how long do you think you’ll take?”  Foggy asks conversationally.</p><p>“They’re only getting menus.”  Brett seems confused.  Karen smiles at him politely.</p><p>“Sorry, Brett, but you have to remember one of them is a kid, and the other one still goes to school.”  Foggy tries so hard not to laugh at that but fails miserably.  “I reckon five minutes.”  Karen gives her bet.</p><p>“I’ll raise you by two.”  Seven minutes: Karen raises her eyebrows.</p><p>“But if they’re too long, that’s suspicious.”  Karen counters Foggy’s offer, and both ignore a muffled scream from somewhere else in the bar.  “What do you think Brett?”</p><p>“Murdock can be responsible when he tries.  I’ll say three.”</p><p>“High expectations, Detective.”  Foggy nods, approving of his bravery.  Brett’s confused.  “You’ve got to consider the time he spends flirting with whoever’s at the bar,” Foggy continues talking over the sound of a glass smashing, “then there’s the request for a Braille menu to take into account, which ends with flustered, over-apologetic bartenders.”</p><p>“And on top of that, you have to remember Matt’s not on his own either.”  Karen adds on, nobody noticing Matt slamming somebody against the table in the booth behind them.</p><p>Matt and Peter return with the menus, pretending not to notice blood on the laminated one Matt used as a throwing star against a resident villain.</p><p>“So, six minutes.”  Foggy says.  “Was the bartender hot?”</p><p>Peter looks at Foggy like he’s lost his mind.  “No, I don’t… I’m married!”  Foggy tries to recover himself, resulting in the group laughing at his misfortune and a really concerned teenager.  Karen goes to the bar to order, only to re-join an intense argument between Peter and Matt.</p><p>“You’re just annoyed I got more than you.”  Matt says, and Peter hands up his hand in defence.</p><p>“Why would I be jealous… you’re only one more than me.  I can catch up easy.”</p><p>“Two!”  Matt exclaims.  “I’m two ahead.”  Karen puts down the drinks and slides back into her seat next to Brett.</p><p>“Peter’s got three, Matt’s got five, but Peter’s convinced it’s four.”  He catches her up.</p><p>“Four what?”  Brett just shrugs.  Their argument lasts until a waiter brings over their meals, putting down three of them.</p><p>“Only two left.  They’ll just be a minute.”  Karen’s convinced she recognises the voice, but it’s too dark, and he’s facing away from her.  When he’s left the table, Peter slams his head against the table.</p><p>“Told you!”  Matt beams.  Peter doesn’t lift his head.</p><p>“But… one.”  Foggy’s worried Matt broke Peter.</p><p>“Looks can be deceiving.”  Matt says, in a faux-wise voice which Frank returns just in time to hear, placing down the other two meals.</p><p>“Let me know who wins.”  He grunts and returns to his job.  When he left New York, Matt’s not sure, but he supposes it has been a while since he’s seen the man.  At the end of the meal, everyone decides it’s smart to go to the loo before they leave, giving Red and Peter a chance to defeat the rest of their criminals.  Matt grabs a dart from the side and throws it against a wooden beam so the side hits against it, and it lands perfectly in the villain’s hand.</p><p>“Holy shit, that was awesome.”</p><p>“Blaspheme.”  Matt scolds but uses the painful distraction to knock out the man.  “Seven!”  Peter still has two left to go, so Matt leaves him too it.</p><p>“So,” Foggy says, “you were flirting with the bartender.  He knew about some competition.”  Matt smirks.  Of course he was flirting with the bartender.  How could he not take the opportunity to fluster Frank Castle.  “What’s Peter doing?”  Matt looks over to see Peter approaching a stranger from behind, but at hearing Foggy’s words, the boy knows he’s been spotted and forfeits the game.</p><p>“I win!”  Matt exclaims.  “With no excuse for second place because Wade’s not here!”  He beams, but the bar falls silent.  Matt leans into Foggy.  “Run.”</p><p>Brett and Karen join them outside.</p><p>They drive in silence the rest of the way, refusing to answer any incriminating questions.</p><p>“Ok- rooms.”  Foggy returns from the reception desk with two key cards.  “We have two twin rooms, and a blow-up mattress.  Matt, you’re bunking with Peter again.”</p><p>“What?!”  Both exclaim and look at each other with wide eyes.  “Foggy no!”</p><p>“Mr Foggy, that’s not fair!  We shared last time!”</p><p>“And you’re bunking with Brett, so you don’t destroy any more furniture.  You can argue the mattress between you.  See you in the morning.”  With a quiet warning from the receptionist, Matt, Peter, and Brett walk to the room in silence.  They stand in front of the three beds in some sort of stale mate, so, Brett breaks the silence.</p><p>“So, I’ll take the mattress.  You had this planned without me.”</p><p>“No, it’s ok Detective, Matt says, “you deserve a break, I’ll take it.”</p><p>“I’m the child,” Peter says, “I should take it.”</p><p>“Shouldn’t you two be arguing over the nicer bed?”  Brett asks, genuinely confused, looking between the two.  “From experience at Foggy’s family dinners, all the kids staying there argue over who gets to sleep on the bed.”</p><p>“I’m used to sleeping on plenty worse things than blow up mattresses, Mahoney.”  Murdock says, fully defensive.  Peter’s jaw drops.  Brett doesn’t know how to reply to that.  Matt takes a second to realise what he just said.  “I meant, umm… I’ve been camping.”  It comes out as more of a question than a clarification, and sadly, neither are buying it for a second.  “Please just let me take the mattress.”</p><p>Matt takes the mattress: neither Peter nor Mahoney want to enter an emotional conversation when they’re all tired from a tough week and long fifteen-hour journey.  Afraid of sleeping with Brett there to disturb, Matt meditates the whole night instead, surprisingly energised the next morning when they meet Karen and Foggy at breakfast.</p><p>“Foggy!  Foggy!  Are we going to the beach?”  He asks, so excited that he’s jumping.  Foggy couldn’t say no to that.  And seeing all three dressed in swim trunks, with no doubt it being down to Matt’s anticipation, it would only make it harder.  “I’ve never been to the beach before!”</p><p>“Of course we’re going to the beach!  We didn’t drive all the way to the coast just to go into the cities.”  Matt beams, and he can’t eat his breakfast fast enough.  It’s not even half an hour before Matt’s dragging Foggy from his room, Karen unashamedly filming the whole thing and sending it to the group chat.</p><p>Brett takes a moment to consider the fact that the trio have other friends.</p><p>“No, Karen; please don’t film this.”  Foggy tries to be mad but gets distracted by Matt’s obliviousness to the camera work.  He decides to move on from the conversation and resigns himself to the fact that he’s just going to be subject to this abuse from all his friends.  “Ok, we’ve got steps ahead going down to the beach.  I’m not sure how many, but there’s quite a few.”  Matt nods his thanks, but his face is doing a thing.  “You ok, Matt?”</p><p>“Yep.”</p><p>“Matt.”  Matt shakes his head.  “Come on, buddy, deal’s a deal.”</p><p>“Could you describe it?”  Matt asks, so quickly that the question comes out as one word.  Still fluent in Matt, Foggy understands.</p><p>“Of course.  Ok, so from here we can see the beach, the water is all different shades of blue, so like sky blue, dark blue, teil, every shade you can imagine, and it’s really rough too, so the waves here are great for surfing.  And every time they break, there’s white froth.  There’re people in the sea swimming at the moment.  They look cold- people are standing around shivering.”  Matt smiles at that- he can probably tell.  “And the sand looks really soft.  It’s all clear, and people have set up their towels and beach beds and it’s covered in really bright colours.”</p><p>“What colour’s the sand?”</p><p>“Yellow, but like kind of dusty.  So it’s not bright like cabs, but kind of wooden in colour.  I’m sure you’ll love it.  It gets stuck everywhere and you’ll be finding grains in your apartment for weeks.”  Matt looks at Foggy.  “You’re going to hate me… I can tell already.  Blame Aunt May.  She suggested a beach trip.”</p><p>Matt will bare that in mind.  When they get down the steps, everybody steps to take their shoes off, and they only get a few more steps before Matt’s full on gripping onto Foggy’s elbow.  “You said it was soft Foggy.”  He grips tighter as he steps on a particularly harsh bit of sand, the mini rocks digging into his feet.  “It’s like stepping on homicidal pins and needles.”  From behind him, Peter bursts out laughing, and Foggy can’t hold back his smile for much longer.</p><p>“Having wet feet will help!”  Peter exclaims, bouncing up to them.  “Let’s go!”  He grabs Matt by the wrist, who crabs Foggy, and they run to the sea, Foggy struggling to keep up with his superpowered best friends, and Matt drags them both into the sea, shirts still on.</p><p>Brett laughs at the look of horror on Nelson’s face as he splashed Nelson back.  He’s stood next to Karen, who’s filming the chaos ahead and puts down their beach bag.  “You know Miss Page; this might not be the worse holiday I’ve ever been on.”  Brett says, earning the PI to look at him with a confused smile.</p><p>“And what would that be?”</p><p>“My mother and I accompanying the Nelson’s to New Jersey one thanksgiving.”</p><p>Karen laughs.  “Yeah… yeah, I can see how that could be chaotic.”  Not as chaotic as the most recent one when Frank turned up to try to talk to Matt- Karen knows where she recognises that waiter’s voice from.  Oh, she is going to kill Matt.  “Mahoney, please hold my phone: I have a lawyer to kill.”  She runs into the sea, and with a grin, Brett leaves their bags and runs in after them, for the holiday he truly wasn’t expecting.</p>
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